August 19, 2005

Helping out the drug lords

Oklahoma was the state that led the way in putting cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine, used by meth makers, behind the counter in pharmacies and otherwise restricting access. That cut down on the locally made meth but Mexican cartels have quickly picked up the slack, the cops say.

Same is happening in Iowa, where meth lab seizures have dropped dramatically since access to cold medicines were limited. But there's also "anecdotal" evidence that Mexican meth is filling the supply gap, Iowa law enforcement people say.

So it always goes in the 40-year plus "war on drugs." The principal impacts have been to 1) restrict supply just enough to keep prices high and 2) keep supply in the hands of foreign cartels.

Wouldn't work out any better for the "drug lords" if it'd been planned that way.